The Anglican Communion
is an inheritor of 2000 years of catholic and apostolic tradition dating from Christ himself, rooted in the Church
of England. When the Church of England spread throughout the British Empire, sister churches sprang up. These churches, while autonomous
in their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the inheritance they have received from the Church of England. They
together make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury and having some 80 million members,
making it one of the largest Christian body in the world.

The Episcopal Church came into existence
as an independent denomination after the American Revolution. Today it has about two million members in the United States,
Mexico, Central America, Europe, and Micronesia.

Bishops in the American Episcopal Church are elected by individual dioceses
and are consecrated in Apostolic Succession, considered an unbroken line of Church leadership beginning with the Apostles
themselves. For more than two decades the American Episcopal Church has ordained women to the priesthood. In 1988 the Diocese
of Massachusetts elected the first Anglican woman bishop, Barbara Harris.

Although it subscribes to the historic Creeds (the Nicene
Creed and the Apostles' Creed), considers the Bible to be divinely inspired, and holds the Eucharist or
Lord's Supper to be the central act of Christian worship, the Episcopal Church grants great latitude in interpretation of doctrine. It
tends to stress less the confession of particular beliefs than the use of the Book
of Common Prayer in public worship. This book, first published in the sixteenth century, even in its revisions, stands today
as a major source of unity for Anglicans around the world.

The Church of England has always valued the life of the mind and dialogue
with fields of secular study. Isaac Newton was an Anglican clergyman and theologian as were several of the founders of the Royal Society,
the earliest institution organized for the promotion of science. The Episcopal Church maintains this tradition, routinely requiring its
clergy to hold university as well as seminary degrees and supporting many university chaplains.